All aglow: the history of Celebration of Lights

This campus tradition has been a favorite for nearly half a century.

As the evening grows darker and the temperatures turn cooler, it’s time for one of our most beloved campus traditions – Celebration of Lights. Students, alumni, faculty, staff and neighbors all gather to sing familiar songs, hear a reading from Dr. Turner and lift a candle while the Dallas Hall lawn is bathed in light. It’s a celebration that has been tucked into the hearts of Mustangs for nearly 50 years.

An idea sparks

The very first Celebration of Lights took place under a different name – Festival of Lights. The year was 1977, and student Vicki Sterquell ’78 was looking for a way to say thank you to the community for its support. She had the idea for a Christmas lighting party and pitched it to Student Foundation.

The Christmas lights, at that time, cost about $5,000 to acquire. They covered Dallas Hall along with some of the trees along the Main Quad. In order to secure the funding, Sterquell contacted the society editor (who was also a Mustang) of her hometown newspaper, The Amarillo Globe News, to print a column and spur donations. It worked.

Orange to white

There was one problem – the lights had been ordered so late in the year that only orange bulbs remained available from the company. But the maintenance department insisted on finding some white lights – and when they did, members of Student Foundation spent hours switching out every individual bulb. 

The first of many

The Festival of Lights was held on Sunday, December 4, 1977. The scene was not too different from today’s event – luminarias lined the sidewalks, a tree stood before the fountain, the University choir sang and the University president read the Christmas story. Onlookers gasped and clapped when the lights finally came on.

“At the close of the ceremony, you could hear people singing carols as they walked back to their cars and dorms,” Sterquell told SMU Magazine in 2015.

The Daily Campus reported that a reception was held in the Dallas Hall Rotunda for donors of $100 or more. The lights came on every night through January 1, and the estimated cost of the electricity was $20. The event was renamed Celebration of Lights the following year, and the rest is history.

Dr. Turner arrives

When University President R. Gerald Turner arrived at SMU in 1995, he took over the tradition of reading the Christmas story from the Gospel of Luke at each year’s celebration. During his tenure, the love of the tradition has grown exponentially.

“The Celebration of Lights ceremony resonated with me from my first year at SMU and remains among our most beloved campus traditions,” Turner told The Daily Campus in 2020.

The digital age

By 2014 – long before the pandemic made livestreaming the norm – Student Foundation opted to stream the event so that Mustangs around the world could view it, whether in Dallas or not.

“This new addition was a huge step in the Celebration's history, and our team is very proud to be the first to bring SMU’s holiday tradition into everyone’s home and to their smartphones,” says Jack Murphy ’16, ’17, who served as campus events chair in 2014.

The spirit continues

Today, the tradition typically takes place the Monday after Thanksgiving and has come to symbolize a moment of tranquility and encouragement before students head into finals – regardless of faith background. This year’s celebration will take place on Monday, November 27, including a special visit from live reindeer. It’s sure to be an SMU memory you treasure for years to come.